The Man Who Forgot His Wife (2012) - Plot & Excerpts
En underbar historia med mycket humor, värme och en och annan tänkvärd tanke.När man möter Vaughan strosar han planlöst omkring utan att veta vem han är, hur gammal han är, vad han heter eller vad hans sammanhang är i livet. Tillsammans får vi utforska det med honom och det blir många dråpliga situationer. Mitt favoritstycke är det när han är i badhuset men kan inte minnas om han kan simma.. det kan han.. han simmar och simmar, crawlar och gör fjärilssim - han är så stolt att han spricker där mitt i barnbassängen bland förskräckta föräldrar som håller hårt om sina barn!Läs den! Den är härlig! After finding himself on a train with no recollection of why and to where he is headed, 39 year old Vaughan manages to drag himself to hospital. There he learns that he's emerged from a 'fugue state'. He doesn't even know his name. Alarmingly, nobody from the life he's forgotten seems to have reacted to his disappearance and there is no reference to him on missing persons' lists. It's only when the single character of note in his new life, neighbouring patient Bernard who's suffering from a brain tumour and disconcertingly upbeat attitude, suggests they use a book of baby names to kick start a reaction to the name he doesn't know is his own, that Vaughan recalls an abstract number; a phone number. Happily it belongs to the ineffectual, but fairly harmless, Gary, Vaughan's best friend. With the offer of Gary and Linda's nursery for baby-to-be as a place for Vaughan to stay, he is allowed to leave hospital. Thus the 'happy' couple embark on a journey to help Vaughan re-connect with his past life. Vaughan may have no memory of his wife, Maddy, but his attraction to her clearly hasn't waned, overcome as he is by her beauty when he spots her outside their house; which has incidentally become, 'her house'. Unfortunately, Maddy doesn't recall her future ex-husband quite so warmly as she can remember her recent past with him all too well. With a touch of the Mrs Doubtfire, Vaughan meets his children for the first time in his new screen-wiped life and he likes them; no, he adores them. And they seem pretty fond of him, too, even eldest son, Jamie in a monosyllabic kind of way. As the father of their children, Maddy is compelled to retain contact with Vaughan and she can't help but notice that, as well as his memory, he seems to have let go of some of his more selfish ways. But memories, for those who still have the luxury of them, are difficult to shake and besides, Maddy has a new partner now. If Vaughan wants to re-write history, he needs to hurry up because only one step stands between them and the legal end to their marriage. Just as in his outrageous, The Best A Man Can Get and the wry Emperor's New Clothes-esque, This is Your Life, O'Farrell's light, pacey style is interwoven with the humorous observation and thoughtful satirical comment which renders all his novels more than mere slapstick. The fact that Vaughan and his wife shared life and love through clearly happier times, only to witness their relationship wear away under the deluge of every day stresses, is intrinsically sad. Oh, that Vaughan could have sorted out his relationship woes before they ended up in court – and before he lost his memory. The possibility of wiping middle-aged memories clean and re-wiring our flawed brains, has its appeal. However, I imagine Vaughan would suggest we have some say over which memories we wipe. At least life is never dull when you've lost your entire memory. Try returning to work as a teacher when you've forgotten why the children call you 'Boggy Vaughan', re-learning to swim in the baby pool much to the distress of toddler-hugging parents when your honed front crawl technique suddenly surges forth, or driving a car when you've forgotten that you never actually knew how to drive a car in the first place. This is an upbeat humorous read which wouldn't survive too much in-depth analysis of the mechanics of the memory loss but it doesn't matter. It had me smiling all the way to its slightly predictable, but much desired, end.
What do You think about The Man Who Forgot His Wife (2012)?
Vivid characters, funny situations and good story. Feelgood novel. I highly recommend it!
—AreliVickytoria
Some comic moments. An easy holiday read with an interesting plot.
—Sentinel
Nice writing, lots of laughs and read it right to the final page.
—chine
